Termite control



Oct. 27, 1936. E. FELLMAN i TERMITE CONTROL Original Filed June 24,`19512l .Rm w A ron limi s Patented 27, 1936 2,059,095 v'rnnMrra ooN'moLEvan L. Fellman, Memphis, Tenn.,4 assigner to E. L. Bruce Company,Memphis, Tenn., acorporation of Delaware Application June 24, 1932,Serial No. 619,163 Renewed March 30, 1936 15 Claims. (Gl. 423-124) My.invention relates to a method for the control of termites, to preventthem from infesting wooden structures, such as the ordinary dwellinghouses.

The type of termite that does the great damage in the temperate zones isknown as the subterranean termite. It lives' in Well arranged chambersbelow the frost line and feeds almost dit All)

entirely on wood or other cellulosic articles. It works preferably lnthe dark, usually starting in the Wood on the side farthest from thelight. It gradually eats vaway the interior of the wood, seldomdestroying the surface or breaking through.

The subterranean type of termite requires moisture at regular intervals.It accordingly maintains a series of tunnels or hollow runways, thatconnect' the moist earth with the wood structure of the building.

Recognizing `that theplace of nomal abode is in the moist earth under ornear the building. l aim to exterminate the termites that already infestthe Iwooden portion of the house and also prevent the re-entry oftermites by laying down a .blanket of a suitable non-volatile'insolubleinsecticide between the earth and all the possible avenues along orthrough which the termites might pass from the earth up into the wood.

Referring tothe drawing for a more complete disclosure of the invention,

Fig. l is a diagrammatic section through the lower part of a frame houseand its foundation.

JThe framework oi the house rests on a suitable masonry foundation l. Ontop of the foundation rests the ywood sills 3sometimes a wooden. plate tbeing interposed. The suboor t rests on the joists t, and the top orilnished door it lays on the subhoor. The weather boards 2t are securedto the usual. studding and the base board or moulding 2t is placed inthe usual manner.

The `'termites live in ground nests leading to the subterranean channelsl in the earth f. In order to reach and Work on the wood portion of thehouse,they may build towers t over pipes 2l in order to reach the wood.The termites may bore through the joists t as at 2l and up into thesuboor and the top doors as at 28. 1

' ln treating a structure, l find an insecticide such as is disclosed inthe application of Frank H. Lyons. Ser. No. 547,791, filed June 29,1931, to be admirably adapted for my purpose, although it will be clearthat other insecticides havingsimilar characteristics could be used.

A formula disclosed in that application tt may be used consists of thefollowing propor tions of ingredients:

Pounds 'Alcohol 690 B-naphthol 432 Rosinv 432 Orthodichlorobenzol 2898V. lvl. in P. naplritha.y 352il The n-naphtnoi is nm dissolved 'in niea1- 'cohol, the rosin is added to the solution and then mixed with thenaphtha and orthodichloroben- Zol.

This-formula will kill termites by contact of the composition on thebody of the termites, by ingestion'and by the vapor of the toxicants;In; addition, after the volatile 'solvents have evaporated, there willbe left behind a', toxic residue consisting of crystals of B-naphthol.The orthodichlorobenzol is a powerful volatile vapor toxicant.

break the crust.

Wood stumps under the building should be removed; if this is impossible,a deep trench should be dug around the stump and the stump bored full ofholes to receive the insecticide.

AllV concrete form boards should be removed.

Wood braces, posts or piers as at 2t, in contact withthe vground must besawed od about one foot above the .ground level and brick or concretefootings tt inserted. If the wood supports are infested', they should bebored at 3l to receive the insecticide. The trenches it, containinginsecticide, around the footing, prevent the termites, from coming upout of the ground and 4 building tunnels up over the post. Theinsecticide in the holes in the post saturate the wood adjacent thereto,so that if the termites come up through the lfooting itself they cannotcontinue to eat up through the post.

All termite tunnels should be torn down, marking the points where theyenter the ground below and the wood above.

Each tunnel should be traced, if possible, tothe termite nest bycarefully digging in the ground.

Trenches it, several inches deep should be dug in all ground adjacent tothe inside areav of foundation walls and around all. piers and supportsin contact with the ground to receive the insecticide solution.

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Slanting holes Il suitably spaced, should be bored in the infested sills3, from underneath the building, to receive the insecticide solution tocover the top of the foundation wall to prevent termites from coming upinside the foundation wall. Holes l2 should also be bored from outsidethe building between the studding and just above the floor level toprovide a secondary line of defense by saturating the top of thesubfloor, the insecticide dripping through the cracks of the subfloor tothe top and around the sills 3.

The ground areas adjacent to termite nests that have been located areheavily saturated with the insecticide solution. All trenches I0 alongthe foundations and around supports are filled with insecticide, givingextra heavy doses of insecticide at all points where termite tunnelshave been noted. The insecticide is forced under pressure into all holesbored for the purpose on the inside area.

All the inside exposed and covered surfaces of the sub-floors, joists,sills, wood supports, foundation walls and ground are thoroughly wettedwith the insecticide so that when it evaporates. there remains behind alayer of crystals 34 on the wood. The work below the building may thenbe finished by gassing in order to ll the whole area below the buildingwith the vapor of the insecticide.

The insecticide is then forced into all holes bored for the purpose; onthe outside area and the holes then plugged. The insecticide is nowsprayed or poured under the base boards, over door sills and underthresholds, if necessary.

In houses having a porch 22, it is quite the usual thing inconstruction, to fill in the space i3, with dirt and other refuse fromthe building operation. These are known as dirt lled" porches and areknown to be breeding places for termites. Usually the dirt fills thewhole space between the oor I4 and the supporting wall l5. In order toprotect the sill adjacent thereto, we bore a series of vertical holes I1.through the floor of the porch afacent the sill and a horizontal holeI8, the full width of the porch. Holes 32 may also be bored through thesill from the inside, out under the porth into the dirt fill. Any one ormore of these methods may be used in order to get the insecticideproperly adjacent the woodwork under the porch. Insecticide is forcedinto these holes to saturate the dirt adjacent the sill 3 and thus setup a poison barrier in the dirt adjacent to the sill. The same treatmentis applied to the sun rooms or similar structures where the concreteslab s laid directly on the ground and there is no opportunity for theoperator to get underneath.

Adjacent the foundation wall I, a hole 33 is made by driving an iron roddown into the earth. Trenching is not practical on the outside becausethe insecticide kills the shrubbery. By pouring insecticide in the holes33, the earth around the foundation and the foundation itself becomessoaked with insecticide. This is usually necessary only where thefoundation is made of brick and where because of faulty mortar-ingbetween the brick, termites may gain access through the brick foundationwall itself. In such cases it is permissible to saturate both sides ofthe foundation wall, by the trench on the inside and the hole on theoutside.

From the above description, it will be clear that vmy method of termitecontrol consists in (l) exterminating the termites with a poisongasemittop of the ground and the other'on the inner and underside of thestructure. After the solventhas evaporated there will be a layer ofsolid B-naphthol on the ground and a coating of solid B-naphthol on theentire inner and underside of the structure.

I claim:

1. Method of termite control for wooden structures which comprisesdigging trenches in the ground closely adjacent tothe foundation wallsand around piers and supports in contact with the ground and putting inthe said trenches an insecticide containing a normally solid toxicant ina volatile solvent that leaves behind the solid toxicant, on evaporationof the solvent, to completely poison the said ground.

2. Method of termite control for wooden building structures supported onthe ground com-- prising removing from the ground underneath thestructure all cellulosic materials, removing termite tunnels connectingthe ground with the superstructure, digging trenches along the lines ofcontact of the foundation walls and supporting columns, lling thetrenches with a liquid insecticide that contains a normally solidtoxicant in a volatile solvent, and coating the entire exposed undersideof the structure and the ground with said insecticide to leave behind onthe wood and ground a coating of solid toxicant, on evaporation of thesolvent, that serves as a barrier to the passage ofthe termites to andfrom the wooden structure.

3. Method of termite control for wood structures having dirt lledporches or the like which are provided with a masonry slab restingdirectly on the earth, the improvement consisting in protecting thewooden sill of the main structure adjacent the said porch by driving aseries of holes into the earth surrounding and closely adjacent to thesaid sill and forcing into the said holes insecticide that leaves behinda non-volatile toxicant to thereby poison the earth adjacent the saidsill and prevent the entrance o termites to the said structure.

4. Method of termite control for a building structure containing woodand supported on the ground comprising` boring holes from the outside ofthe building adjacent the studdingand above the floor level and feedinginto the holes an insecticide that contains a non-volatile toxicant in aquantity sufficient to saturate the top of the subfloor of the buildingadjacent the studding and sills of the building, to thereby provide apoison barrier at this point to prevent passage of termites -to and fromthe building and the ground. 5. Method of `termite control for abuilding containing a wood superstructure supported on a foundationresting on the ground, comprising poisoning the ground closely adjacentto the foundation with an insecticide that contains a non-volatiletoxlcant and covering the top of the foundation at all points of contactof the wood superstructure and the foundation with said inaotaooasecticide to thereby provide a double barrier to prevent passage oftermites to and from the Wood superstructure.

6. Method of termite'control for a building containing a woodsuperstructure supported on a foundation resting on the gr'ou'ndcomprising forming holes in the soil closely adjacent to the foundationand placing in the holes an insecticide containing a normally solidtoxicant in a volatile solvent in a quantity-suilcient to poison all ofthe said soil adjacent the foundation 'with solid toxicant, onevaporation of the solvent, to thereby act as a barrier to preventpassage of termites to and from the wood superstructure.

7. Method of termite control for a building with wood sills supported ona foundation resting on the ground, comprising boring holes in the woodsills adjacent their points of contact with the foundation, feeding intothe holes an insecticide that containsa non-volatile toxicant in aquantity sufficient to cover the top of the foundation at all pointsofcontact with the wood sills and thereby act as a barrier to preventpassage of termites to and from the wood superstructure.

8. Method of termite control .for a building containing a woodsuperstructure supported on a foundation resting on the ground,comprising interposing at all points of passage for the termites to thewood superstructure, a barrier of an insecticide containing a normallysolid tonicant in a volatile solvent,l one of the said barriers beingformed by completepoisoning of the soil closely adjacent to thefoundation by thoroughly impregnating the said soil with the saidinsecticide, to therebyleave behind the solid toxicant, on evaporationof the solvent.

9. Method of termite control for a wooden building structure providedwith wood sills supported on a foundation-resting on the ground,y

comprising treating the entire wood underside of the structure adjacentthe ground, including the bottom of the sills resting on the foundation,with an insecticide containing a normally solid toxicant in a volatilesolvent, in such quantities as to leave behind on the entire undersideof the structure and the sills, a coating of solid toxicant, onevaporation of the solvent, at every point lthrough which termites mighttravel from and to the ground in their passage to and Vfrom thelbuilding and which serves as a poison barrier to the passage ofthetermites.

10. Method of termite control for awooden building structure. providedwith wood sills supported on a foundation resting on the ground,comprising treating the entire wood underside of the structure adjacentthe ground, including the bottom of the sills resting on the foundationand the entire area of ground under the structure with an insecticidecontaining a normally solid toxicant in alvolatile solvent, in suchquantities as to leave behind on the entire underside of the structureand the sills and the entire surface of the ground under the structure,a coating of solid tonicant, on evaporation of the solvent, at everypoint through which termites might travel from and to the ground intheir passage to and from the building and which serves as a doublepoison barrier to the passage of the termites.

`l1. Method of termite control for a wooden building structure supportedon a foundation resting on the ground, comprising treating the entirearea of the ground under the building and adjacent the underside of thefoundation with an insecticide containing a normally solid toxicant anda volatile solvent, in such quantities as to leave behind on the entiresurface of the ground, on evaporation of the solvent, an unbrokencoating of solid toxicant, at every point through which termites mighttravel from and to the ground in their passage to and from the buildingand which serves as a poison barrier to the passage of the termites.

, l2. lin combination, a wooden building structure provided with woodsills supported on a foundation resting on the ground and having acoating of a solid toxicant on its entire underside, at every pointthrough which termites might travel from and to the ground in theirpassage to and from the wooden building structure, including thebottomof the sills resting on the foundation.

13. lin combination, a building structure containing Wood and supportedon the ground, and an unbroken coating of a solid tcxicant on theadjacent to the building structure at every point through which termitesmight travel from and to the ground in their passage to and from thewooden building structure. s

lli. in combination, a building structure containing wood and supportedon the ground and having a coating of a solid toxicant on its entireunderside and a similar .unbroken coating on the ground under thebuilding structure, the said coatings being at every point on thestructure and on the entire surface of the ground below the structurethrough which termites might travel from and to the ground in theirpassage to and from the said structure, the said coatings serving as adouble poison barrier to the passage of termites.

l5. Method of termite control for a building structure containing woodand supported on the ground, comprising driving a series of holes in theground'adjacent to the Wood portions of the .structure in contact withthe ground, and filling the said holes with an insecticide containing anormally solid toxicant in a volatile solvent, to leave behind a solidtoxicant, on evaporation of the solvent, to thereby completely poisonthe ground adjacent the said portions of the structure with the solidtoxicant to prevent passage of termites to and from the said structure.

EVAN L. FELLMAN.

lentire surface of the ground under and closely

